What might all this have to do with the second language learner?Ehrman (1989)Motivation What is motivation?

What does it mean to say that someone is motivated?

IntrinsicAffective DomainThe emotional side of human behaviourCognitive sideThe development ofaffective statesVariety ofpersonality factorsOrganizationReceivingRespondingValuingValue SystemDefinition of Affective domain by Benjamin BloomIn acquiescenceVoluntary without coercionInstrumental and Integrative OrientationsEmpathyInstrumental OrientationreadingIntegrative OrientationSocial InterchangeCultural All human beings build sets of defenses to protect the egono concept of its own selfstart noticing differencesDegrees of awareness, responding and valuingCreate a system of affective traitsChanges bring on mounting defensive inhibitions to protect a fragile egothe process of building defenses continues higher self-esteemweaker self-esteemMore able to withstand threatsmaintain walls of inhibition to protect their egoSLA and inhibitionMOTIVATIONSExtrinsicIntrinsic

Making mistakes is important to learn a SL because we can make a progress by learning from our mistakes.ThreatsInternalExternalDeepest/GlobalMomentary/ situationalTrait anxietyState anxietyMore permanent predisposition to be anxious about many things Experienced in relation to some particular event or actForeign language anxietyDebilitative anxietyFacilitativeanxietyCareerTranslationIntroversionI'm smartYes, you areI'm smartNo, you're notI am smartWhich is more powerful?No successful cognitive or affective activity can be carried out without some degree of:Self-esteem.Self-confidence.Knowledge of yourself.Belief in your own capabilities for that activity.Malinowski (1923)The last part of the 20th century saw significant advances in study of the brain through different techniques.

Using such techniques, some connections have been made between affectivity and second language acquisition.

The Neurobiology of AffectNeurobiology informs several areas of interest for language acquisition studies such as

PlasticityAffectMemoryLearning

"All human beings have a need for phatic communion..."John Schumann’s work has singled out one special section: the amygdala.

Defining oneself and finding acceptance in expressing that self in relation to valued others.The amygdala is important in our ability to make an evaluation of a stimulus.

"It is the evaluation which individuals make and maintain with regard to themselves..."

"It expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval, and indicates the extent to which individuals believe themselves to be capable, significant, successful and worthy."Levels of self-esteemGeneral (Global)Relatively stable in a mature adult.General assessment.It might be analogized to a statistical mean or median level of overall self-appraisal.Situational (specific)

One's self-appraisals In particular life situations:Social interaction.Work.Education.Home.On certain relatively discretely defined traits:Intelligence.Communicative ability.Athletic ability.Personality traits:Gregariousness.Empathy.Flexibility.The degree of this level may vary depending upon the situation or the trait in question.What does "empathy" mean?Heyde's Study:She studied the effects of the three levels of self-esteem on performance of an oral production task by American college students learning French as a foreign language.Findings:All three levels of self-esteem correlated positively with performance on the oral production measure.The highest correlation was between task self-esteem and performance on oral production measures.Learners have to be able to gamble a bit, to be willing to try out hunches about the language and take the risk of being wrong.Beebe (1983)In the classroom:Bad grade in the course.A fail on the exam.A reproach from the teacher.A smirk from a classmate.Punishment or embarrassment imposed by one-self.Outside the classroom:Looking ridiculousThe frustration coming from a listener's blank look.The danger of not being able to take care of themselves.The alienation of not being able to communicate.Loss of identity.Dufeu (1994)Classroom antidote: To establish an adequate affective framework.Learners feel comfortable.HowCreate a climate of acceptance.Self-confidence.Encourage participants to experiment and to discover the target language.Allow themselves to take risks.Embarrassment!What are your reasons to acquire a second language?Gardner & Lambert1972Attitudinal and motivational factorsAttitudinal factorsSo please please please let me, let me, let me let me get what i want this time

. Motivation.Personality. Inhibitions.Extroversion.Self-esteem.AnxietyIn more common words, it is the process of "putting yourself into someone else's shoes", of reaching beyond the self to understand what another person is feeling.In more sophisticated terms, it is usually described as the projection of one's own personality into the personality of another in order to understand him/her better.Empathy SympathyAwareness and knowledge of one's own feelings.Identification with another person.Communication requires empathy.Other person's affective and cognitive states.Breaks downFalse presuppositions or assumptions are made about the other person's state.Trascend our own ego boundaries so that we can send and receive clearly.Relates to particular tasks whithin specific situations.For example:Educational domain.Athletic context.Specific self-esteem might encompass SLA in general, and task self-esteem might refer to one's self-evaluation of a particular aspect of the process.Task